I always say that my most important relationships are:
- My wife
- My prescribing physician
- My pharmacist
I’m posting this now because I’ve had many clients and folks in my support groups lately tell me what a hard time they’ve been having with their pharmacies. What do they all have in common? They all go to CVS. I haven’t gone to a CVS for my regular scripts for many years, and there is a reason. They suck. They are unwilling to get me what I need, aren’t truthful about when things are going to come in and don’t really want to provide any actual service.
Over the years, since leaving CVS, I’ve used several Walgreens, an Osco inside a Shaws, an Eckard, a Rite Aid, and currently go to the pharmacy at the Wegmans in Westwood. With the exception on one particularly surly pharmacist at one Walgreens, I’ve never had the problems that I’ve had at CVS.
Check out this catch 22 from the last time I tried to use a CVS. They only get their Schedule II meds (stimulants, etc.) delivered once a week. They put their order in on Friday for Monday. I want to pick up on Saturday. I always coordinate drop off and pick up with my food shopping. So I drop off on Saturday and pick up on the next Saturday. But since I drop off on Saturday and they refuse to keep my meds in stock, they can’t put in the order until the following Friday for the next Monday.
Then when I tried another CVS, they ordered during the week so my Saturday to Saturday cycle would work. Except that their policy was that an Rx couldn’t be dropped off more than five days in advance. And, of course, they were unwilling to be flexible with that policy. So I’d have to find time to make multiple mid-week trips to the pharmacy every month.
Currently the closest pharmacy to me is a CVS. When we moved here I went in to ask if they would be so kind as to order a specific generic brand of Clonidine for me. Since you basically can’t get the name brand anymore, I’ve found that a specific generic works better for me as the thing that counteracts my stimulant-based insomnia. They told me that I couldn’t even make the request. As I recall, they pharmacist couldn’t actually do any of the ordering manually. They just got what corporate sent.
But they were really excited to sign me up for mail order scripts. Sure. You can’t make it happen in the store. Let’s add in the US Postal service and I’m sure my meds will be on time and accurate. And, I’d still have to go in for the Schedule II’s anyway.
Bottom line, avoid CVS and make sure that whomever you pharmacist is that they are a human being who is willing and able to help. It shouldn’t be that hard to find. Good luck.
Standard Disclaimer: In an effort to foil my own perfectionist tendencies, I do not edit my posts much… if at all. Please excuse and typos, mistakes, grammatical errors, or awkward phrasing. I focus on getting my content down. In my humble opinion, an imperfect post posted is infinitely better than a perfect post that goes unfinished.